August books

 I bought and read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, which I think are the first two books in the series. I used to own the complete set, and I have no idea what happened to them. Did I give them away? I hope not. I got these from the thrift store. Anyway, both were fun to read, although they were way less about Mrs. PW and her cool upside-down house than I remembered, and more about the ineffectual WASP parents tearing their hair out over their undisciplined little brats' behaviors. Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, in particular, consists mostly of mothers phoning each other near tears about their darling angels' troublesome new habits, and being told to call Mrs. PW.  The books are less about the children, as I had seen it when I first read them as a child myself, and more about their despondent parents. In Hello, Mrs. PW, she is basically just a voice over the telephone; we don't ever see her. I was saddened during my rereads to find that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is not a friend and ally to the children; she is there for and on the side of the parents. 

I thought the kids were malcriados (meaning both brats and badly raised) even as a child, and even though I no longer think spanking is morally correct, there's got to be something from latine parents' bag of tricks that could fix those problems without resorting to magical medicine.  This article is worth reading, and has some interesting points, although I don't think Mrs. PW did what she did for control; many of the bad habits the children had were genuinely annoying or troublesome, and did need to be fixed. The article author acts like bullying or constant crying are fun creative things that should not be stamped out in children. I mean come on. 

Side note: I saw they made a spinoff of the Mrs. PW books: the new series features Mrs. PW's niece Missy Piggle-Wiggle (sigh) who apparently does the same thing. Anyway, I did enjoy rereading these books, and I hope I find the other two in the thrift store or my parents' house. 4/5 and 3.5/5, keeping for now. 

Trigger warnings for these books: spanking mentions, minor physical abuse including swatting, pinching, and kicking; physical and social bullying, verbal abuse, body horror (kid level), manipulation, bad parenting, magical pharmaceuticals doled out without a license or medical degree (probably)

The other book I read in August was another thrift store find, Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. I brought it to read in Mexico, and finished it in two days. You can read the summary here. I read about it in a book enewsletter and thought the premise intriguing. This book was published in 2008 and it shows, what with the fashion and celebrity mentions (amnesiac Lexi is devastated to find out that Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt split up). It's also very Bridget Jones-esque, with the fashion brands and celeb dropping and stupid decisions (how did this bitch not catch on the second+ time that people were exploiting her amnesia?). However, the amnesia premise was interesting to me, and Kinsella is a good enough writer that I was engrossed with the book regardless. I was somewhat let down by the answer and the ending. Spoiler: Lexi ends up with the guy she was cheating on her husband with, and we're supposed to root for that? She ends up coming out on top of a business deal where she failed to save her department, allowing them all to get fired? Her motivations for becoming a total business bitch were just that her dad passed on his debts to her family and someone made fun of her teeth? She doesn't even really get her memory back? I'm not mad I bought and read this book, although I won't be keeping it. I actually left it behind in Mexico on purpose. 3.5/4 stars, gave away. 

 

Trigger warnings for this book: many mentions of dieting and exercising for weight loss, spit in food mention, sex mentions, car crash mentions, infidelity, corporate backstabbing and greed, neglectful parents, teenage delinquency, amnesia, classism, lookism (character is mocked for her crooked teeth)

July books

Ugh I am so behind on these. Anyway:

I picked up The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen (pickle heiress?) from my library's used book sale. It's a historical fiction, Christian Regency romance mystery. I was on the fence about it, since I don't really like Christian romance novels (they tend to be cheesy), but I do like Regency-era historical fiction and mysteries, so. You can read the book summary here. I actually enjoyed this book to the point of staying up late to finish it. I'm always rooting for a spinster heroine (solidarity), plus I love a good Gothic mystery. The mystery in this book is very solid (although not as Gothic as it initially seems), and it kept me guessing. The historical accuracy (as far as I can tell) was decent, with the situations/actions only being a little too modern or improper. The heroine loves Jane Austen novels and reads or thinks about them throughout the book. Come to think of it, this novel is a bit Persuasion-ish, what with the ignored plain oldest daughter being left to take care of an estate by herself by her vain, neglectful family. The romance was fine. I don't think a rector/curate/whatever would be that flirty back then; he was practically rake-ish. There is a Mr. Darcy-esque scene where the heroine comes across him swimming shirtless, ooh-la-la. Christian romance novels are so funny to me because they have the same sort of sexual tension/almost kissing/noticing their hot physique scenes, but immediately after they happen, the protagonist(s) is like "help me, God!" because you're not supposed to lust. It's hilarious. I'd recommend this book, but only if you're ok with Christian morals or themes. 3.5/5 stars, giving away. 

Trigger warnings for this book: murder with firearms, a character is burned via arson, mentions of a large aggressive dog(s), suspense, slight Gothic horror (that turns out to be something else)

I was so excited to get my hands on Unclobbered: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality by Colby Martin (summary), as it deals with the "clobber verses" in the Bible that seem to condemn homosexuality and are the reason so many Christians are homophobic today. Each clobber verse is addressed in a chapter, while alternating chapters detail Colby's growth as a Christian and what happened after he started believing that it isn't a sin to be gay. The clobber verse chapters are well-researched, with Colby discussing the historical and religious context of the verses and digging into ancient Hebrew & Greek terms. The citations are in endnotes; I would have preferred footnotes, but I'll take it. However, there were a couple of verses where the end result of all that research wasn't clear. This is probably because the verses aren't that clear themselves, but it was still kind of disappointing to me since I wanted to hear "this verse is not about/does not condemn gay s3x". The other chapters were interesting, but Colby spends more than half the book talking about himself (and the gay and affirming Christians he talked to along the journey). I'm glad he's on the correct side, and I get why it was such a blow to be fired from his pastoral job when he had a big family to support, but that pales in comparison to all the queer and trans people that have been shunned or murdered or killed themselves because of what Christians believed those clobber verses said. People have been hurt by these misunderstood, mistranslated, misapplied verses, and Colby's out here whining about getting fired from a homophobic church? I found the whole "coming out of the theological closet" thing eyeroll-worthy. Christian allies' pro-gay books need to stop making it about themselves and their journeys and how great they are for being accepting. Just like with My Son, Beloved Stranger, this is a book for straight people. 3.5/5 stars, keeping for now. 

Trigger warnings for this book: homophobia, probably transphobia as well, rape and gang rape mentions (from Bible stories), cishet centering, religious abuse, gay s3x mentions (from Bible passages), Christianity